This is more of a rant than a blog, but I think the majority of you will understand. Idolizing Reggie Miller as a boy transformed me into the pro basketball fan that I am today-a die-hard, true-blue Indiana Pacers fan. Being a Pacers fan is difficult enough, because we consistently contend, but we rarely reach the NBA Finals (once during my tenure as a fan, in 2000). In fact, the Pacers have made the playoffs something like 17 of the last 18 seasons. That is more consistently than any other team in the NBA. That's part of what makes us so frustrating. We make the playoffs every single freakin' year but have so zero NBA Championship banners in the rafters. The latest incarnation of the Pacers has been doubly as frustrating. Between the ongoing Artest saga (glad that's over) and an injury plague never before seen in professional sports, this team seriously underachieved. This following another injury-riddled season last year, one in which several lengthy suspensions also severely crippled the Pacers. As a small-market team it also seems like calls from the officials never, ever, ever go our way. Basically, what I am saying is that as a Pacers fan I need no help in the frustration department. Nonetheless, the NBA has so generously provided me with heapings of extra frustration. How? This stupid, worthless television channel called NBA TV. You see, the NBA has so many playoff games on every night that on weekdays some games get stuck on the NBA's channel instead of more prominent channels such as ESPN, ABC or TNT. The problem is that NBA TV is not readily available in most TV markets. Don't believe me? I live in Long Beach, CA, subscribe to digital cable, and I still don't get this useless channel. What teams get stuck on this channel, you ask? Small-market teams and teams without megastars such as Lebron and Shaq. In other words, teams like the Indiana Pacers and Sacramento Kings. In fact, it happened to my Pacers tonight. Game Five of the Chicago Bulls-Miami Heat opening round playoff series got top billing on TNT, my Pacers got NBA TV. This has seemingly happened numerous times in every first round series that we have had over the last several years. Tonight I stayed at home and listened to the game on online radio (like I did last Thursday). I'm sorry, but last Tuesday I went to Hooters for Game Two of the Indiana Pacers-New Jersey Nets opening round playoff series and spent $50-plus bucks to see us get pounded. Not going to do that again tonight. And yes, I understand about putting the games on the "real" channels that draw the most viewers. But c'mon, having three of our last four games on NBA TV is pretty excessive. Hopefully we can somehow find a way to win this series and earn top billing on TV.